This falls into the category of "I can't believe we didn't mention it".
Llívia is an Spanish enclave in France. After the Franco-Spanish War (1635–1659), the Treaty of the Pyrenees (1659) assigned all the villages and territories of Roussillon, Conflent, Capcir, Vallespir and northern Cerdanya to France. It established the Pyrenees as the France-Spain border, dividing Northern Catalonia. Which all worked swimmingly well until the Mayor of Llívia pointed out it had town status as the former capital of Cerdanya. Llívia thus remained a Spanish enclave within France, reaffirmed by the 1660 Treaty of Llívia. It's only 1.6km from the Spanish border and can be found here.
We drove through Llívia at the end of June last year. My original plan was to spend a couple of nights there, but a town of 1500 doesn't have much in the way of tourist accommodation. The idea of staying in an enclave excited me, and Llívia has an intriguing history, and some good walks.
Instead we just stopped on our way to Andorra to see the Esteve Pharmacy, located in Llívia's municipal museum. It's a complete 18th-century pharmacy donated to the town by the family who owned it, on condition the contents remain in the town. The pharmacy has a large display of albarelli (a type of ceramic jar used in pharmacies) as well as antique drugs, and one of the most important collections of prescription books in Europe. I can't remember where (or when) I first read about the old pharmacy, but it seemed appropriate to visit and compare to Chenonceau's apothecary.
It's a pity it was in a new and freshly restored room in the museum, but it's interesting how small a village pharmacy was compared to the Chenonceau apothecary, which came from a private villa in Italy.
You can read more about the apothecary here.
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